Places of Grace

In a sheltered valley paradise in southern Manitoba, a community of Mennonites have tried to insulate themselves from the rest of the world, following the strictest traditions of culture and religion. But they cannot entirely escape the pressures of the outside world. It's the 1950's and there are polio epidemics, the Korean war, and the massive installation of nuclear warheads just across the border in the US. In Places of Grace, David Elias lets us see into the heart of this community, through the eyes of his young central characters, Stephen and Trudy Zacharias. It's an intimate, compassionate, and often humorous vision. The collection is rooted in one aspect of Mennonite culture in Canada, the first wave of immigrants who arrived in the 19th Century. But its characters and its themes are universal; they speak of the desperate rules of adulthood and the hopeful questioning heart of the child in all of us. "In Places of Grace, Elias continues what he started (in his first book), capturing a time and a place with a simplicity of language that allows his characters to come through clearly and memorably."-Armin Wiebe